In our first few weeks of class, we read Jonathan Kozol's description of the inequities present in many American public schools, especially for minority children. Given these descriptions, it is natural to ask about the conditions inside schools here in Rhode Island. For this assignment, we will investigate local schools, their districts, and their surrounding community to try to understand the conditions in public schools closer to home. We will base our conclusions on evidence that we can gather from various sources. To understand what might be happening "behind the scenes" within a school or district, we will need to formulate questions and seek out evidence that helps answer those questions. To be successful, you must examine relevant social, political, and institutional factors, understand how factors relate and decide they interact to influence the nature of education in our schools. In the spirit of Kozol's work, our guiding question for our investigative work will be:
How have current reform efforts such as NCLB and RTTT affected schools that serve Rhode Island's most impoverished students?
Though we all have opinions about schools, our context reports will eventually be public resources, and as such, are based on our best understandings based on evidence. Each description should make careful claims and support them with several pieces of evidence so that our knowledge about each educational context is as reliable as we can make it.
Project Organization
We have been writing papers about school systems, aka "Context Reports," here on URITK for several years before this year. Here are some suggested courses, questions and previous reports that you may use to help in your research.
The map below shows this year's plan. We'll begin our project by reviewing poverty statistics and decided which three school districts we should focus on. Once we decide, we'll split up into teams of four to "divide and conquer" our way to complete the necessary research and develop evidence-based descriptions of these three communities and their school districts. Once the community and district are described, each team member will investigate different school and write a description.
Before the project can be considered complete, our work must be shared out from our private web "studio" to a public gallery. Once everyone has their school descriptions completed, we'll read each other's work to suggest improvements. Once these revisions are done, each team should move its work over to the RISchools wikispace.
Useful Resources
These websites feature data collected about the area's communities, districts, and schools:
InfoWorks - Current School Information website maintained by RIDE
The context reports from previous years remain on URITK, and many of them are "published" on the public space RISchools.wikispaces.com. Please use them as references! Important: You should not describe a school that has already been described on RISchools.wikispaces.com without permission from the instructor.
Step 1: Research and Describe School Communities and Districts
In this past, students have focused on these variables to describe their community, district, and school. While these serve as a good guide, you may need to collect additional information in order to be able to answer our driving question. If the community and district that your team is investigating is already described on the RISchools wiki, then you should use this work by previous students as a starting point and extend it in quantity and quality. Unlike in previous years, you should spend some time in your descriptions addressing the project's driving question.
A. Community Data and Descriptions
Before you begin writing, you should research your community. Use the links below to begin a notes page where you can gather your data. You can used the templates "EDC 503 Community Data - Census" and "EDC 503 Community Data Kidscount" if you'd like. It might be faster just to "clip" any pages that you find useful into your Personal Knowledge Base (Evernote).
There are templates to use, "EDC 503 District Data - Safe Schools and Finances" and EDC 503 District Data - Students and Teachers", but I think that using Evernote and just clipping the pages that you find useful would be much faster.
Step 4: Publish Context Reports on RISchools.wikispaces.com - Due 7/16
You are required to include citations in APA format for the information that you decide to include in your report. You should use Zotero to collect and post all citations!
Assignment
In our first few weeks of class, we read Jonathan Kozol's description of the inequities present in many American public schools, especially for minority children. Given these descriptions, it is natural to ask about the conditions inside schools here in Rhode Island. For this assignment, we will investigate local schools, their districts, and their surrounding community to try to understand the conditions in public schools closer to home. We will base our conclusions on evidence that we can gather from various sources. To understand what might be happening "behind the scenes" within a school or district, we will need to formulate questions and seek out evidence that helps answer those questions. To be successful, you must examine relevant social, political, and institutional factors, understand how factors relate and decide they interact to influence the nature of education in our schools. In the spirit of Kozol's work, our guiding question for our investigative work will be:How have current reform efforts such as NCLB and RTTT affected schools that serve Rhode Island's most impoverished students?
Though we all have opinions about schools, our context reports will eventually be public resources, and as such, are based on our best understandings based on evidence. Each description should make careful claims and support them with several pieces of evidence so that our knowledge about each educational context is as reliable as we can make it.
Project Organization
We have been writing papers about school systems, aka "Context Reports," here on URITK for several years before this year. Here are some suggested courses, questions and previous reports that you may use to help in your research.
The map below shows this year's plan. We'll begin our project by reviewing poverty statistics and decided which three school districts we should focus on. Once we decide, we'll split up into teams of four to "divide and conquer" our way to complete the necessary research and develop evidence-based descriptions of these three communities and their school districts. Once the community and district are described, each team member will investigate different school and write a description.
Before the project can be considered complete, our work must be shared out from our private web "studio" to a public gallery. Once everyone has their school descriptions completed, we'll read each other's work to suggest improvements. Once these revisions are done, each team should move its work over to the RISchools wikispace.
Useful Resources
These websites feature data collected about the area's communities, districts, and schools:
Context Reports from Previous Years
The context reports from previous years remain on URITK, and many of them are "published" on the public space RISchools.wikispaces.com. Please use them as references! Important: You should not describe a school that has already been described on RISchools.wikispaces.com without permission from the instructor.Questions and Resources Located by Students in Previous Classes
In previous years, we worked together to brainstorm questions and assemble resources for each section of the context report.Step 1: Research and Describe School Communities and Districts
In this past, students have focused on these variables to describe their community, district, and school. While these serve as a good guide, you may need to collect additional information in order to be able to answer our driving question. If the community and district that your team is investigating is already described on the RISchools wiki, then you should use this work by previous students as a starting point and extend it in quantity and quality. Unlike in previous years, you should spend some time in your descriptions addressing the project's driving question.
A. Community Data and Descriptions
Before you begin writing, you should research your community. Use the links below to begin a notes page where you can gather your data. You can used the templates "EDC 503 Community Data - Census" and "EDC 503 Community Data Kidscount" if you'd like. It might be faster just to "clip" any pages that you find useful into your Personal Knowledge Base (Evernote).
B. District Data
There are templates to use, "EDC 503 District Data - Safe Schools and Finances" and EDC 503 District Data - Students and Teachers", but I think that using Evernote and just clipping the pages that you find useful would be much faster.Step 2: Draft Shared Portions of the Context Report:
District and Community Descriptions - Due 7/9
Step 3: Draft School Descriptions
School Data
School Descriptions - Due 7/11
Step 4: Publish Context Reports on RISchools.wikispaces.com - Due 7/16
You are required to include citations in APA format for the information that you decide to include in your report. You should use Zotero to collect and post all citations!